IP Blog.3 Intersectionality and Race
In his TEDx talk Asif Sadiq spoke about the value to both individuals, organisations and society of approaching DEI more expansively than some current standard approaches, seeing opportunities for both individualised learning and applications and for experiential and localised programmes. The talk was interesting and thoughtful but didn’t feel new or radical, so glancing through the comments section was a shocking snapshot of the misinformation and disinformation space into which the term DEI has now been placed. This reinforces the urgent need to embed diversity and representation, and to ensure anti-racism initiatives are fully enacted. It also calls into question how to bridge what seem like an ever-widening gaps in perceived realities.
The Telegraph channel piece, fronted by a Professor Orr of Cambridge university, purports to expose the mechanics of Advance H.E., and provides a succinct example of this ecosystem of misinformation; with DEI being positioned as symptomatic of another mis-appropriated term ‘woke’. An interviewee states that implicit bias training ‘doesn’t work’ and that it is ‘being forced upon staff’, rather than constructively suggesting approaches that might work. Another interviewee conflates instances of interpersonal racism being infrequently formally reported as evidence of the absence of institutional racism, misinterpreting both the terms and the statistical significance. However, the students spoken to do not affirm these views. Again, the comments are indicative of an overwhelmingly angry and misinformed audience.
Encountering these materials and comment sections make me feel initially grateful to be part of UAL as an institution, and on this course; both seem set in opposition to racism, exclusion and hegemony; and the fallacy of free speech as permission to perpetuate harms. While UAL’s inclusive positionality is communicated through many statements and activities, there remains a lot of work to do. Garrett (2024) describes Whiteness ‘more than an optical privilege in the workplace … an ecology of hostile structures and practices that shape what we consider to be daily norms’. It is in these everyday norms; particularly legacy materials, structures and languages that many of the racisms in library and information services reside.
The UAL Anti-racism Action Plan (2021) proposed to put ‘Decolonisation at the heart of the agenda’, which included commitments to ‘accelerate the acquisition of resources which profile BAME culture and authorship’ and to ‘review existing and new LibGuides to ensure they profile resources which are appropriately diverse in the coverage’. I was interested to read this commitment having identified the Fine Art Subject Guide (LibGuide) bibliography as having a deficit of representation and inclusion across marginalised communities and intersectional identities. The bibliography currently in place provides a snapshot of a time and place where DEI was seemingly much less considered in resource provision. Purchasing more diverse materials was the lower hanging fruit, disturbing the ‘canon’ based reading list hadn’t happened.
Comments such as those on the Sadiq video seem based on the view that DEI is a box-ticking exercise with decisions based on factors other than ‘merit’. Orr’s proposition is that awareness and intent to effect equity are somehow damaging or inhibiting. My intervention plan to update and diversify the bibliography resources was based on the current provision demonstrably not meeting student research needs in my teaching context, based on my experience of supporting students in research 1:1s and not finding resources or themes to support their dissertation research listed in the recommended texts. I had been unaware of the Anti-racism Action Plan commitment, as yet not enacted. To me this provides an instance of evidence for the efficacy and necessity of acting for curriculum diversity and inclusion, whether prompted by a structural, practical need or through a theoretical justice-based exercise – or both!
References
Garrett, R. (2024) ‘Racism shapes careers: career trajectories and imagined futures of racialised minority PhDs in UK higher education’. Globalisation, Societies and Education. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2024.2307886.
Orr, J. (2022) Revealed: The charity turning UK universities woke. The Telegraph [Online]. Youtube. 5 August. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRM6vOPTjuU (accessed on 04/06/25).
Sadiq, A. (2023) Diversity, equity & inclusion : Learning how to get it right. TEDx [Online]. Youtube. 2 March. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR4wz1b54hw (accessed on 04/06/25).
UAL (2021) UAL anti-racism action plan summary. Available at : https://www.arts.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0032/296537/UAL-Anti-racism-action-plan-summary-2021.pdf (accessed on 04/06/25).
Hi Grace,
Thanks for pointing out the data misinterpretation in the video “Revealed: The Charity Turning UK Universities Woke.” I believe systemic or institutional racism can not be addressed or measured simply by counting reported cases. These forms of racism are embedded in structures, policies, and practices, and often go unreported or unnoticed precisely because they are kind of ‘normalized’ or appearing ‘neutral’ like what Alice Bradbury’s point in the set reading (2020). Relying solely on formal complaints ignores more subtle patterns of inequality – not to mention people may not know how to make a formal complaint.
Thanks for picking up on this Gwen, it was a clearly biased and mis-informational piece. Sometimes I find it useful to encounter contested views in order to be aware of the realities of what we need to actively address and counter. But listening to the discussion in the group this – week it’s clear that being in a position to coldly assess the views in this video is also an indicator of my own privilege – as in the current right-wing discourse on immigration they don’t apply to me, despite being an immigrant. Which just illustrates the arbitrary nature of these positions. I might have been more emotionally affected had the views been more closely related to my own more recent experiences.